Freedom Community Church of the Nazarene
History of the Freedom Church of the Nazarene
In 1932 a group of friends in the community of New Hope, Indiana started having Sunday School and prayer meetings in their homes. Wesleyan Methodists Rev. Luther Arthur and his wife Jane Arthur started preaching for them in a little log cabin owned by Orval Woolard. The partitions were removed to make it large enough for the folks to gather in. Seats were boards laid on blocks.
In the summer evangelist Rev. Fred Ault, a Wesleyan Methodist from Odon, held the first three-week revival. In the fall of 1932 Rev. C. J. Quinn, then District Superintendent of the Nazarene Movement secured Rev. Wesley Martin as their pastor. Rev. Martin then selected Rev. Urel Hollenbeck, a Nazarene evangelist for a two-week revival. Brother Hollenbeck used as his prayer room the peach orchard on the farm home where he stayed while the revival lasted and wore paths while walking back and forth praying.
In March of 1933, District Superintendent Rev. Jesse Towns organized the church named DEEMS CHAPEL with twelve charter members. These included Rev. Wesley Martin, his wife Lessie, their sons Jesse, Frank with his wife Dorothy, Orval Woolard and wife Bertha, Ezra Gentry and wife Josie, George Deem and wife, Leota, and Mary Deem.
Rev. Earl Poorman replaced Rev. Martin in the fall of 1935. Rev. Poorman and the group started having cottage prayer meetings in the homes of Jim and Rose Beaman, Tom Keasling and Kenneth Brewster in and around Freedom, Indiana, as there was no holiness church in that little town. In 1936 The Odd Fellows Building was rented in Freedom until the local bank building was bought, and then the church moved there.
In front of the Freedom Church of the Nazarene circa 1956
In 1951 our present building was bought from the Christian Organization, and on Sunday, November 11,1951 the first service was held here. Between 1953 and 1959 a lot of work was done on the church. The ceiling was lowered, the walls refinished, Sunday school classrooms were made, the old benches were made into more comfortable seats, a new oil furnace was installed and a new parsonage was built just east of the church. In 1987 a two-car garage was bought and converted into a fellowship hall, then a restroom was added in 1998. In 1993 the parsonage was remodeled with an addition.
Some of the young men who have attended our church and became ministers include Jesse Martin, Darryl Luther, Harold Miller, Gene Dockery, Rev. Paul Cable’s son, Gary and Rev. Sammy Smith’s son, Dewayne.
In 1994 additional acreage was purchased to the west in hopes of someday building a new church building. After years of fundraising, the dream became a reality in 2008 when ground was broke on the two-story 4000 square foot facility. The church will have a new sanctuary that will seat 200 people comfortably, eight classrooms, and a nursery.
Ground breaking Aug 26, 2007
Pastors who have served the Freedom Church:
| Rev. Wesley Martin | 1932-1935 |
| Rev. Earl Poorman | 1935-1936 |
| Rev. Leo Long | 1936-1939 |
| Rev. Leon Luther | 1939-1941 |
| Rev. G. M. Ruggles | 1941-1942 |
| Rev. Elsie Martin | 1942-1947 |
| Rev. Wilbur Beeson | 1947-1948 |
| Rev. Daniel Lyons | 1948-1950 |
| Rev. Paul Cable | 1950-1952 |
| Rev. Raymond Dale | 1952-1953 |
| Rev. Samuel Smith | 1953-1959 |
| Rev. Claude Chastine | 1959-1963 |
| Rev. Earl Ramey | 1963-1974 |
| Rev. Francis Porter | 1974-1976 |
| Rev. Paul Shear | 1976-1994 |
| Rev. Jesse Martin (supply) | 1994-1995 |
| Rev. Estell McClure | 1995-1999 |
| Rev. Jesse Martin (supply) | 1999-2002 |
| Rev. Christopher Breeden | 2002-2007 |
| Rev. Russell Parker | 2007-2008 |
| Rev. Rick Wetnight | 2008-Present |